-Smyth Realiser A8 (Do you really have $3,000+ to spend on one of these, let alone access to a theater where you can make a recording?)

Very good question there. I recall Sensaura Virtual Ear allowing for some adjustments (it was featured on a few Crystal Semiconductor-based sound cards and some Analog Devices SoundMAX integrated audio codecs 'til Creative bought them out and likely used the tech to help develop CMSS-3D Headphone), but so far, you can't really get anything personalized without shelling out the big bucks for a Smyth Realiser.

I did see an article posted here some time ago about constructing a personalized HRTF simply by taking three photos of the user's head-one from the front, and one for each side. If someone were to implement that in a commercial surround processor, it could allow for personalized 3D audio, seeing as it's not constrained to simulating a surround system like the Realiser, and hopefully at a much more affordable price since all you'd need is a camera.

Nice. The neat thing about most Aureal Vortex chipset cards is that unless you're looking for something really rare like the Aureal SQ3500 Turbo (a not-quite-made-it-to-market variant of the SQ2500 paired with a DSP daughterboard), you can generally find them dirt cheap if you're not too picky beyond "must have an AU8830 chip on it".

They also have some pretty good Sound Blaster Pro emulation for DOS games. (Just don't use it in conjunction with the Unofficial 98 SE Service Pack; for some reason, installing that and leaving the SB Pro emulation enabled results in a BSoD. Said pack also gives me a few issues with some other games, so I don't bother.)

While you're planning this Win98SE build (don't see any reason to use Win95 or WinME in its place), you might want to do some research over at VOGONS, since it's a forum full of people who build retrogaming rigs.

Yup, that'd be nice. Okay, still gonna try out the MyEars sometime though.Yeah, I remember that article, man, we should start a startup company! Even if funds were limited, isn't there a website/company that will allow multiple people to donate to a cause? Come on, this is how Facebook started! I can see it now! WaveTracing is back! Console Virtual Surround is a thing of the past now with complete 3D audio. Mannn. Anywho, on to reality... Yup, I got it for $37 with shipping!! Do you have a card? Btw, is this card capable of A3D 3.0? I heard Halo maybe used this? Oh man, lol, good to know. Sounds great. Thanks! Still, I'm interested in the PS3 to Auzentech to Receiver bit.

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=844394&page=5 - Also, this is how to force your X-fi to use OpenAL on Borderlands 2. I'm curious if this can be done for all games somehow? Regardless if CMSS-3D is using OpenAL or Direct3Dsound, isn't it still a generic HRTF? Or does it change, becoming all fitting once it's able to be hardware accelerated?

Okay, screw the Auzentech, wow, that's had some horrible support, hardware issues, and reviews. Chiefly, check the Amazon and Newegg reviews for this card. No phone number or information other than a support ticket? LOL. Maybe there's one other card that has HDMI in and out. Asus Xonar HDAV 1.3. I guess these things are a "thing" of the past as Graphics cards are now able to bitstream and what not. Yeah, so I don't get to use CMSS-3D on console (it's not available in any shape or form that I know of), but maybe I can try MyEars.

I just got my mmx 300's and am loving them! they are ALOT more detailed and accurate sounding than the 2013 a40's. I will post up more impressions as I play around with them more. The only problem is that I have the wrong y-splitter for my mixamp. I need the 2 female to 1 male, and I have the 2 male to one female.

Will this splitter on ebay work? Or should I go straight from astro? I figure I can find a splitter for cheaper somewhere in the U.S. preferrably so im not waiting a long time to get it.

in other words, does the microphone and headphone jack have to be specified as being different? Or is any 3.5mm female going to work both ways whether if it has an input going into it or an output going out.

Okay, screw the Auzentech, wow, that's had some horrible support, hardware issues, and reviews. Chiefly, check the Amazon and Newegg reviews for this card. No phone number or information other than a support ticket? LOL. Maybe there's one other card that has HDMI in and out. Asus Xonar HDAV 1.3. I guess these things are a "thing" of the past as Graphics cards are now able to bitstream and what not. Yeah, so I don't get to use CMSS-3D on console (it's not available in any shape or form that I know of), but maybe I can try MyEars.

wow grats to you man. Getting a sound card for your rig! I'm just decdeing to buy a external DAC and live with that xD

wow grats to you man. Getting a sound card for your rig! I'm just decdeing to buy a external DAC and live with that xD

Yeah, possibly! It seems everything I get is rare, lol. I own a Soundblaster Extigy, Psyko Carbon (which I'm returning now in favor of virtualized with the Q701's), and a 60GB PS3 (hardware ps2 version/4usb ports) that never had the warranty seal broken (which I sent to http://www.fixmypcdoctor.com/product.php?productid=17&cat=4&page=1) for preventative measure. Mine is totally custom. The HDMI port was not working when I bought it, so this guy set up a clean looking HDMI female cord running right out of the back about 6inches. It keeps strain off the port and is surprisingly clean looking. It's pin for pin identical to the original HDMI port, which now has black tape over it (it's very seamless, almost like it's missing an HDMI port, lol).

I don't get any compensation for this, but I'm just mentioning this whole thing because this is the only guy that installs a custom, tuneable, fan mod on the PS3, well, maybe there are others, but he offers warranty afterwords (I think I had 6?, but he has some refurb ps3's with all this modding done to it with a 1yr warranty) and all I had to do was ship it to him. Thing is, the stock PS3 fan just is a bad implementation. Basically, if you have a PS3, it's going to fail. It's designed that way. Read here: http://killerbug.net/PS3FanTechInfo.html << So, that's why you need to get this, lol. It's not gonna last indefinitely, but it will for sure extend the life a great deal, especially if it's never had any problems like mine (I got soooo lucky). Funny, because, everything is always a pain with me. Anyway, he's a real personable, nice guy. Spoke on the phone for an hour about games once, lol. That mod is hella better than the 12V fan mod (omg sounded like a jet taking off then a super loud sound continuously [just google on youtube]). He set it to where it's perfect noise to performance ratio. I throughly clean my PS3 with some Orange Rind thing. What a cosmetic beauty it is! A steal as I got this for $200 with like 2 controllers and 8 games, albeit older games. He had a copy of BC2. Good man. My Ps3 runs like a champ though. Couldn't be happier. :D His name is Greg. K, I wrote too much :P My review of his work is on his site as Andrew M. btw.

Yeah, possibly! It seems everything I get is rare, lol. I own a Soundblaster Extigy, Psyko Carbon (which I'm returning now in favor of virtualized with the Q701's), and a 60GB PS3 (hardware ps2 version/4usb ports) that never had the warranty seal broken (which I sent to http://www.fixmypcdoctor.com/product.php?productid=17&cat=4&page=1) for preventative measure. Mine is totally custom. The HDMI port was not working when I bought it, so this guy set up a clean looking HDMI female cord running right out of the back about 6inches. It keeps strain off the port and is surprisingly clean looking. It's pin for pin identical to the original HDMI port, which now has black tape over it (it's very seamless, almost like it's missing an HDMI port, lol).

I don't get any compensation for this, but I'm just mentioning this whole thing because this is the only guy that installs a custom, tuneable, fan mod on the PS3, well, maybe there are others, but he offers warranty afterwords (I think I had 6?, but he has some refurb ps3's with all this modding done to it with a 1yr warranty) and all I had to do was ship it to him. Thing is, the stock PS3 fan just is a bad implementation. Basically, if you have a PS3, it's going to fail. It's designed that way. Read here: http://killerbug.net/PS3FanTechInfo.html << So, that's why you need to get this, lol. It's not gonna last indefinitely, but it will for sure extend the life a great deal, especially if it's never had any problems like mine (I got soooo lucky). Funny, because, everything is always a pain with me. Anyway, he's a real personable, nice guy. Spoke on the phone for an hour about games once, lol. That mod is hella better than the 12V fan mod (omg sounded like a jet taking off then a super loud sound continuously [just google on youtube]). He set it to where it's perfect noise to performance ratio. I throughly clean my PS3 with some Orange Rind thing. What a cosmetic beauty it is! A steal as I got this for $200 with like 2 controllers and 8 games, albeit older games. He had a copy of BC2. Good man. My Ps3 runs like a champ though. Couldn't be happier. :D His name is Greg. K, I wrote too much :P

... all for your PS3... so many Ps3 Games are... no you know what... AWESOME DUDE! I'm happy to hear you PIMPED out your ps3... cuz I know 100 guys with SICK pcs but only like ONE dude with a modded ps3 xD

well I have Dolby Headphone with my mixamp and CMSS with Soundblaster on m PC rig. Neither is perfect and both change the sound a bit but I almost can't stand to game without them anymore. If I am home alone I still use my headphones. It depends on the game and all that but some are awesome.

Some examples: Red Dead Redemption - I had to turn virtual surround off because the sound of horses galloping was awful. It sounded like it was in the bottom of a bucket with echo.

Assassin's Creed 2 - Holy cow awesome. wandering through crowded streets is amazing. As said before it once scared me because I thought someone was downstairs inside my house talking. I whipped off my phones and said "hello?" Then realized it was in game.

MW2 - Again was great. I can hear someone coming upstairs from down and to the left. Sometimes it is that good. Turn pause and, boom, shoot you in the face.

Star Craft 2 - Does not matter. The style of game just does not lend itself to 3-D positioning. You, the player, are playing from above. So, you get a decent left right but 3-D positioning does not really apply.

well I have Dolby Headphone with my mixamp and CMSS with Soundblaster on m PC rig. Neither is perfect and both change the sound a bit but I almost can't stand to game without them anymore. If I am home alone I still use my headphones. It depends on the game and all that but some are awesome.

Some examples: Red Dead Redemption - I had to turn virtual surround off because the sound of horses galloping was awful. It sounded like it was in the bottom of a bucket with echo.

Assassin's Creed 2 - Holy cow awesome. wandering through crowded streets is amazing. As said before it once scared me because I thought someone was downstairs inside my house talking. I whipped off my phones and said "hello?" Then realized it was in game.

MW2 - Again was great. I can hear someone coming upstairs from down and to the left. Sometimes it is that good. Turn pause and, boom, shoot you in the face.

Star Craft 2 - Does not matter. The style of game just does not lend itself to 3-D positioning. You, the player, are playing from above. So, you get a decent left right but 3-D positioning does not really apply.

I hope that helps.

nah that's cool. And yea I can imagine it would be neat with an exploration heavy game like Metroid... *droooooooooooooooools* man I want to try those with my PC and emulate me some METROID PRIME... that would be seriously cool. Still sounds like fun! Wonder how it works with Car games, I can already hear stuff coming from behind me but... hearing left and right behind would be nifty :D

For what it's worth I was all worried about whether it would be worth it but jumped and got an Astro Mixamp and Razer Carcharias and I was sold on day one. Virtual surround and open cans with decent sound stage is the best thing to happen to my gaming life since HD graphics. It's just candy but it's so good.

I've got a Xonar STX and I feel the same way about Dolby Headphone with PC games, works great with some games, not so much with others... I imagine it depends on what engine the game's using, to an extent. You'll get all sorts of opinions tho, some people will tell you virtual surround is blasphemous and all it does is mess up the sound, others won't play anything without it, it's rather subjective I guess.

Yeah I take it the game has to be properly coded to work its best. Both technologies color the sound a bit which can on some occasions be unpleasant. The majority of the time I prefer it on and sometimes it's just fantastic.